


Finding Understanding

by ravenangel



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Deaf Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-01-02 01:36:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenangel/pseuds/ravenangel
Summary: Trying to find your way in a new country, with a new team where you don't speak the language and have a secret.





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> All the Italics discussions are Russian spoken and/or signed depending on context.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geno makes it to Pittsburgh but he has a secret he's not sure he can trust them with. Starting over in a new place is hard and it's harder still when you don't know the language.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a complete work of fiction and in no way associated with the actual people. I own nothing and do not profit from any of this. Also I have opted to take a lot creative license in some of these situations just for the sake of the flow of the story. I'm not looking to villanise anyone or anything thing so yet again this is a complete work of fiction written purely because I wanted to write something I could relate to.

Sergei Gonchar could not believe this was his life; he's standing in the airport with his team's owner and former Captain waiting for a runaway Russian hockey player to arrive. He knew Evgeni Malkin was a brilliant hockey player, but he also knew there would be unique challenges for him that no one else seemed to be aware of yet.

Sergei was shocked that Zhenya had managed to get away without getting caught and he knew his nerves wouldn't calm until he saw the younger man whole and safe in front of him. Sergei couldn't help the smile that spread across his face when he saw his wayward team mate and friend walking towards them.

Sergei looked at Mario, "Can I go to him?"

Mario nodded, "go on make sure he's ok. It will be good for him to see a friendly face after everything he's been through."

Sergei walked over to Evgeni waving to him in greeting as he approached. Sergei watched the tension drain from Zhenya's shoulders at the sight of his friend.

"_Zhenya you made it, you're safe_." Sergei murmured against Zhenya's ear as he pulled the younger man into a hug. Sergei's shoulders tensed in concern when he noticed something was missing under Evgeni's shaggy hair, "_Zhenya where are your hearing aides?"_

Zhenya bit his lip and pulled away to descretely sign, "_They took them, and only give them to me when I'm on the ice. Think if they always keep them I have no choice but to go where they want, do what they want."_

_"Are you ok without them? Do we need to get you into the doctor to get new ones?"_ Sergei asked as he signed, looking a little sick at the reality that Zhenya had been living with.

Zhenya let out a sigh_, "I don't want to be a problem. I can make do. I don't really want them to know or maybe they send me back."_

_"They wouldn't do that. They have waited so long for you to get here."_ Sergei frowned, "_You are so talented they would be crazy to turn you away. Mario would never turn you away he wants you here; our whole team wants you here. They won't care about your hearing Zhenya."_

Zhenya looked nervously towards Mario and then back to Sergei, "_I don't want them to use my hearing to try and control me."_

Sergei looked horrified, "_No, Zhenya no one on this team would do that to you. We want you here and we want you happy. I sign and speak in Russian. I will always translate for you if you want me to. If your hearing aides help you we are getting them replaced immediately, if they don't help you we'll find another way to make it work."_

_"I'm ok without them if it's not too loud or too many people, but it's too hard at the rink without them I can't hear on the ice well_." Zhenya answered softly.

Sergei nodded, "_ok then we make an appointment and get you new ones, hopefully better ones."_

Zhenya nodded, daring to trust his friend, "_where are we going?"_

_"We're going to Mario's first and then you are coming home with me, Ksenia and Natalie can't wait to see you."_ Sergei answered. Zhenya smiled tiredly, and followed Sergei. "Mario, this is Evgeni Malkin." Sergei turned and looked at Zhenya, "Evgeni this is Mario Lemieux."

"Happy to meet." Evgeni said nervously, the English feeling alien on his tongue and hoping it sounded right, but not being sure due to the background noise of the airport.

Mario smiled warmly and shook Evgeni's hand. "We're happy to have you. Now let's get you out of here, get some food in you, and let you get some rest."

Evgeni caught most of what was said but smiled when Sergei translated to Russian and nodded his agreement.

....

Sergei pulled in behind Mario and looked at Evgeni, "_are you ready Zhenya?"_

_"Do you know who will be here?_" Zhenya asked.

"_Mario, his wife and four kids, and Sidney Crosby. He lives with the Lemieux's. I don't think anyone else will be here, since they don't want to overwhelm you on your first day."_ Sergei replied.

Evgeni nodded, "_do you think I should tell them about my hearing? Do you really think they won't care about it?"_

_"Zhenya, this is not like in Russia. As much as I love our home what they did to you is wrong and it will not happen again here. They won't use this to punish you or leave you isolated. They will want to help find ways for you to be your best. They are good people. I'm glad Sidney is here because he has been so excited to meet you and worried about your safety getting here. Just give them a chance Zhenya I don't think they will disappoint you_." Sergei replied. "_At the very least we need to let the team doctor and trainer know, but I would like to encourage you to let Mario and Sidney know. They will make sure you get what you need to be successful here."_

_"Ok, I tell them, but want to wait to tell rest of team or coaches."_ Zhenya replied.

Sergei nodded and opened the door, "_ok Zhenya let's get you fed and then we can go home and you can get some rest."_

Zhenya smiled and followed Sergei to the door. Sergei rang the doorbell and Mario opened the door, "Come in, Nathalie is in the kitchen, the kids are in the living room and here's Sid now. Sid come on down and meet your new team mate."

Sergei put a reassuring hand on Zhenya's shoulder as he guided him into the house while he translated what Mario had said. He refrained from signing until Zhenya made up his mind about whether he was going to tell them or not.

Sergei smiled at Sidney, "hi Sidney, did you have a good summer?"

Sidney smiled, "it was good, but I'm ready to get back to work."

Sidney smiled shyly at Evgeni and gave a small wave. Sergei chuckled, "Sidney Crosby meet Evgeni Malkin." Sergei looked at Zhenya, "Evgeni this is Sidney Crosby."

Zhenya smiled and nervously bit his lip, " good to meet."

Zhenya bit his lip again hoping that the words sounded right. English felt so alien on his tongue and without his hearing aides he didn't trust that he was saying everything without slurring or muddling the words.

Sid grinned, hazel eyes shining with excitement, "we're so happy to finally have you here Evgeni. I can't wait to play hockey with you." Sid looked at Sergei who was trying not to laugh at the both of them and the way they watched each other. "I'm so glad you made it here, you can call me Sid." 

Sergei translated quickly and couldn't help but chuckle as Evgeni offered up calling him Zhenya.

"добро пожаловать в команду Женя." Sidney said slowly the Russian words as alien on his tongue as English was for Zhenya.

Zhenya couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. Sidney's accent was terrible, but the obvious effort he had put into learning even that little bit of Russian helped eased the anxiety that had been his constant companion since his decision to run away from Russia.

"Thank you." Zhenya responded in heavily accented English.

....

After dinner Mario, Sidney, Sergei and Evgeni headed to Mario's study to talk about how things were going to go for the next week or so. They all sat down on the couch and chairs while Sergei exchanged a look with Zhenya who nodded.

"There's something Evgeni wanted me to discuss with the two of you." Mario looked interested, and Sidney looked concerned as Sergei checked with Zhenya who let out a slow breath and nodded again. "There is something that no one outside his family or Metallurg knows about Evgeni, he's deaf, or more like hearing impaired. He hears ok when it's quiet, but he'll need hearing aides when he's on the ice to be able to hear everything he needs to."

Sidney cocked his head and looked at Evgeni, "Do you wear hearing aides all the time? Do they help you?" 

Sergei translated quickly in signed and spoken. Evgeni smiled hesitantly, "yes, help."

Sidney looked at Evgeni and bit his lip, "you don't have them in right now, do you need them?"

Evgeni looked at Sergei as he translated and frowned before signing you can tell them what happened.

Sergei let out a slow breath, "he doesn't have his hearing aides with him. The training staff was to keep his hearing aides unless he was at practice or a team meeting otherwise he wasn't allowed to have them especially when they traveled. They had hoped to use that to keep him."

Sid and Mario both looked upset with the news, but Sid looked positively livid. "Are you fucking kidding me?! How the hell could they isolate him like that?!" Sid looked at Zhenya, "we'll get you to the audiologist and get you new hearing aides. They will be yours and no one will ever take them away from you again."

He looked at Mario who nodded face echoing Sidney's fury. Gonch translated everything in sign for Evgeni who gave them a hesitant smile and looked at the floor.

Sidney reached out and tapped Zhenya's knee, waiting for him to look at him, "you are not alone here. We want you to like being here and we want you to find a home here."

Sergei smiled as he translated.

Mario looked at Evgeni, "I'll call Dr. Vyas to set up the appointment tonight and hopefully we can get him in to see someone tomorrow. Evgeni, you use hearing aides and it looks like you also sign, is there anything we can do to help you?"

"_Look at me when you speak and just be patient."_ Evgeni answered as Sergei translated.

Sid smiled and looked at Evgeni and very carefully said, "I will always be patient with you, but I need you to promise that you will tell us if you need anything or if there is anything else we can do to help."

Sergei translated Sid's words and made it a point to give Zhenya the Russian and English words for promise.

Evgeni nodded and said in heavily accented English, "promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am in the process of learning Russian but due to my own hearing issues it's slow going, but I'm finding learning Russian sign is helping me with the spoken language, so that being said I am sorry if the Russian is not completely correct. I'm doing my best to with what I know and supplementing with Google Translate. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
> 
> добро пожаловать в команду Женя.- welcome to the team, Zhenya.


	2. Learning to Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geno's trust in Mario, Sid and the Penguins medical staff had been proven right now maybe it's time to let someone else in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that this is a total work of fiction and I am taking liberties with many things just for the sake of the story telling. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it.

Sid spent a lot of time with Geno and Gonch. He started to learn some Russian and Russian Sign while helping Gonch teach Geno English. So far they had made it into the preseason without anyone realizing Geno was deaf and it made him happy. Geno wasn't ashamed of his hearing impairment, but he didn't want anyone to treat him differently or to try and use his hearing against him; as had happened too many times in the past.

Geno was doing well adapting to his new life in Pittsburgh, but it was hard when Sid or Sergei weren't there to be able to help smooth some of the communication barriers. Sid was happily surprised that it was guys like Flower, Max, and Tanger who seemed to really reach out and try to bring Geno into the fold, communication barriers be damned. They worked out their own ways of communicating when English didn't work. Sid was happy that there were others starting to follow their lead when it came to trying to make things more welcoming for Geno and at the end of the day they all spoke the common language of hockey and most days that was enough.

Geno hadn't let anyone outside the medical staff, or Mario and Sid know about his hearing yet but he had been talking to Sid and Sergei about maybe telling the coaches, and a few of the guys that he was starting to make friends with. He didn't like keeping secrets from people he was beginning to think of as friends and he knew once they started traveling it was likely people would start to notice when they were rooming together since he took his hearing aides out to sleep. 

Sid and Sergei had tried to reassure him that it wouldn't be a big deal. However, Geno had too much experience with people saying it won't be a problem and then turning around and making it a problem: Whether it was refusing to play with him or look at him when they're speaking; to actively isolating him by taking his hearing aides away whenever he wasn't working on something hockey or team related. 

No one outside Sergei or his family had bothered to learn any sign and he just wasn't sure he could easily set aside a lifetime of actions that did everything to make him feel he couldn't trust anyone outside his small group of family and select friends. It was a lifetime of small lessons that had told him you have to be better, and do better in spite of what anyone else did or said to prove he was worth it; to prove he was good enough regardless of his disability. 

Geno didn't see his hearing impairment as a disability, he felt he was a better player because his hearing deficit made him pay closer attention to the little things that most people missed; it helped him focus and read the ice and plays better, putting himself where the play was going to end up just that much faster. He didn't care that he couldn't hear everything all the time, he didn't need to, but he couldn't ignore the fact that the constant forced isolation did leave it's own marks and that's not including the people who would intentionally try and take him out for daring to play so well in spite of all the barriers they put up to keep him from excelling. The blind side hits that always seemed to increase whenever people found out. He knew he'd been lucky to get this far without major injury and he really didn't want to have to start looking over his shoulder all the time again if someone took exception to his existence for daring to be better and do better than everyone thought he should.

Geno knew Sid understood what some of the isolation, dirty play and other crap was like; even the getting it from your own teammates, but he always seemed to find places where he could stop worrying about it for a little while, some of the people who played with him that would always have his back. Geno never really had that outside the few months he had gotten to play with Sergei before he moved to the NHL. So having more people he could trust was strange and he was struggling with how and when to let more people in closer. 

....

Sid and Geno had worked out an almost perfect silent chemistry on the ice, small visual cues that were helpful for Geno that people missed giving an almost psychic like connection to their play that made people take notice of them.

Things were going perfectly right up until Geno dislocated his shoulder after a bad hit in a game. Gonch was there to translate but it was hard to do without using some sign considering how loud the rink was. They got Geno off the ice without incident and Stewie went to work helping him get out of his gear so he could actually look at the injury.

Stewie and Geno managed to communicate enough that Geno knew his injury was bad and that they'd be sending him to the hospital to get it taken care of. Stewie immobilized Geno's arm and got him ready to go to the hospital. Letang was sitting out that night so Stewie a called him over.

"Tanger do you have a car tonight?" Stewie asked.

"Yeah, what do you need?" Kris questioned.

"Can you bring Geno to the ER? He can't drive and he's not hurt seriously enough to send in an ambulance, but I don't want him to wait until the end of the game to get this looked at. I'd take him but I can't leave and neither can Doc." Stewie explained.

Kris nodded and looked in the training room to see the young Russian sitting on the table in his warm up pants and tennis shoes arm immobilized against his chest with his warm up jacket draped around his shoulders. Geno looked ashen as pained brown eyes met Kris' own.

"Yeah I've got him Stewie, should I call you when we have an update and should I bring him back here?" Kris asked.

"Give me a call and I'll let you know what the plan is. Just to give you a heads up if it takes a while you might hear from Sid or Gonch." Stewie answered.

As if they were summoned both Gonch and Sid stuck their heads in the room still in full gear. Sid nodded at Stewie before walking over to Geno, while Gonch stopped to talk to Stewie. Sid smiled as Geno leaned into him, resting his forehead against his chest.

Sid ran gentle fingers through Geno's hair, "_How are you feeling?"_

Geno pulled back and looked at Sid, "_hurts, feel sick."_

Sid grabbed the small trash can and set it in front of Geno in case he needed it. "_It going be ok Zhenya they get you taken care of_."

Geno nodded, "_Tanger is taking me to the hospital. I want to go soon._"

Sid squeezed Geno's hand, "_Tanger take good care of you. Gonch and I come as soon as game is done."_ Sid steadied Geno as he slid gingerly off the training table, "easy G. Hey Kris he's feeling a little nauseous so be careful with him."

"No problem Sid I've got him." Kris came and gently took Geno's good arm, "ready to go G?"

Geno nodded and let Kris guide him towards the door, "_see you later Sid, Seryoga."_

Kris got Geno settled in the front seat of his car before getting in and carefully pulling out of the lot into traffic. Geno was sitting stiffly in the passengers seat with his eyes closed.

"How are you doing G?"

"Ok, hurts." Geno murmured.

Kris made the short drive carefully trying to jostle Geno around as little as possible. Kris parked the car, opened Geno's door for him and helped him out of the car. They walked to the front desk and Kris helped check him in.

The receptionist at the desk recognized them and called the charge nurse over. "I know we're a little busy tonight but do you have a room out of the way we can have them wait in. They're going to get mobbed by people if we're not careful."

The charge nurse smiled at them, "yes I can bring them right back. We won't be able to see him immediately but I'll get things started. My name is Kari and I'll be the nurse working with you."

Kris nodded, "I'm Kris, and this is Evgeni."

She led them back to a curtained off area and had Geno sit down on the side of the bed. "Ok Evgeni I'm going to take your vitals. What happened to bring you here tonight?"

Geno looked at Kris eyes pleading. Kris nodded, "he took a bad hit in tonight's hockey game and our trainer and team doctor are pretty sure he dislocated his shoulder. "

She had finished taking his vitals and was looking over the immobilized arm she squeezed his fingers lightly checking the capillary refill, "how long ago was the dislocation?"

"Maybe 45 minutes or so." Kris answered.

She looked at Kris, "does Evgeni know what happened?"

Geno blinked, "да"

Kris smiled, "yes he does but his English is a little rocky and he thought it would be better if I explained things."

"We're going to send him down for x-rays just to see what's going on before we reduce his shoulder. You can stay with him if you want when they bring him down." Kari paused, "does Evgeni speak any English?"

Kris nodded, "some. He understands more than he speaks, but I've been learning Russian, and we have two teammates that know more who will be here as soon as they can so I'll do whatever I can to help make this easier on him."

Kris stayed with Geno when they took him to x-ray only stepping out when they actually took the x-rays. Geno seemed to feel better having someone he knew there.

Once the x-rays were finished they waited together for the doctor to come back in. Kris sat on the bed next to Geno when he asked him to. He was a little surprised when Geno leaned against him resting his head tiredly on Kris' shoulder. Kris smiled as he remembered how tactile Geno could be especially if he was looking for reassurance as he gently rubbed Geno's back avoiding his injured side, "_how are you doing?"_

Geno looked a little shocked at how well Kris had said that in Russian. "Ok. When you learn Russian?"

Kris chuckled softly, "Flower and I started when Sid told us we got you and we wanted to help make things easier. It's been slow learning but we're still working on it."

Geno looked curiously at Kris and gave him a smile, "you practice with Sid?"

Kris smiled, "no we didn't tell anyone, wanted it to be a surprise once we got better at it."

Geno let out a quiet chuckle, "you both practice with us now?"

Kris rested his head against Geno's, "if you want us to I'll ask Flower."

Geno nodded against Kris' shoulder, "yes I'm want. Sid be happy to see."

Geno bit his lip, sat up and pulled away from Kris a little, "_I_ _have something to show you_." Geno reached up with his good hand and carefully pulled off his hearing aides. He slowly picked through his English looking for the words to explain, "Sid say English I'm deaf. If you my friend you know. Not keep from friend."

Kris blinked surprised, but he couldn't help smiling because suddenly little things he had been noticing made so much more sense. "Thank you for trusting me. Do you hear without them?"

Geno waved his hand side to side, "ok not loud, but need hockey and loud places."

"Do you want help putting them back on?" Kris asked.

Geno nodded, "_yes please._"

Kris carefully took the hearing aides out of Geno's hand and gently looped them back around his ears. "Is that good?"

Geno nodded, "thank you Kris."

There was a soft knock on the door and Sid and Sergei stepped in. Kris smiled at them as Geno gave them a tired smile as he signed one handed and spoke_, "still waiting for the doctor to put my shoulder back. I just got back from x-rays."_

Sid and Sergei both looked at each other and then at the two men sitting on the side of the bed. "I'm guessing you told Kris?" Sid said with a smile.

Geno nodded and Kris grinned. Gonch looked at Geno and smiled, "_I take it everything went fine with telling him? Do you think you will be wanting to tell anyone else?"_

Geno smiled, "_yeah it went well. Kris is learning Russian too with Flower just didn't tell us. Maybe we tell team soon. I can't hide forever and I don't want to."_

Gonch smiled, "_I'm glad he made you feel better."_

Sid stopped in front of Geno and gently stroked his cheek as he smiled fondly. Geno leaned into the touch and softly kissed Sid's palm before settled back in to the touch. Kris smiled at them happy that they seemed to have found something together. 

There was a knock on the door and the doctor came in. He greeted everyone before sending everyone but Gonch out of the room so they had space to work. Geno gave them a nervous smile as Sid and Kris stepped outside the room. They leaned against the wall as they waited for word they could go back in. 

Kris smiled softly at Sid, "so you and G?"

Sid bit his lip as a faint blush spread across his cheeks, "yeah. We've been seeing each other for a couple weeks. It's not a secret really, but it's new..."

Kris chuckled softly, "don't worry Sid the guys won't hear anything from me. If you and G want to come out you have my complete support but it should happen when you're ready."

Sid smiled and bumped Kris' shoulder, "thanks." He looked at Kris, "so Geno told you about his hearing..."

Kris snorted, " yeah there's a lot of things that make so much more sense, but like you two being a couple this is G's information to share and it still needs to happen on his time frame. Don't worry guys I've got your backs no matter what. Neither of you give your trust easily and I'm not about to break it."

Sid shook his head as he chuckled softly, "thanks Tanger. So what's this Geno was saying about you learning Russian?"

Kris bit his lip and looked at the floor a blush creeping across his cheeks, "yeah I talked Flower into working on it with me."

Sid smiled and squeezed Kris' shoulder, "how long have you been working on it?"

Kris shrugged nervously, "I started on my own as soon as you said we got G. Flower caught me working on it about a week after that and wanted to join in." Kris worried at a hangnail, "we know what it's like to not speak English as a first language; hell neither of our families speak English often at home. We didn't want Gonch to be the only person he could talk to and be understood."

Sid pulled Kris in for a tight hug, "thank you for caring enough to try to make things easier for him. It means more to him than I think you realize and it means a lot to me too." Sid gave him another squeeze and pulled away, "now that you know about his hearing issues you know why it's an even bigger deal for him to be able to use his language while he's learning another one."

Kris nodded and gave Sid a happy smile, "he's really good at hiding his hearing impairment, but there were little things that you, G and Gonch did that made me wonder if there was more than just a language barrier going on. I just hope that he feels like he can trust the guys enough to tell them."

Sid grinned , "it said a lot to me that he trusted you with it and I think the way you handled it will make him more comfortable with the idea of telling the others."

Both men looked towards the door as they heard Geno let out a pained yell. Kris grabbed Sid's arm, "they'll let us in with him as soon as they can but it's best for him if we let them get his shoulder set and trust Gonch to be what he needs right now."

Sid nodded stiffly as they both silently watched to door waiting for word. They jumped a little when the door opened after 45 minutes. The doctor looked at them, "We've got his shoulder set and immobilized. We're sending him for a follow-up x-ray while he's still sedated just to make sure we haven't missed anything. You can go in while we wait for them to transport him to radiology."

Sid and Kris nodded at the doctor and came back in the room. They had an IV in Geno's uninjured hand and had him covered in blankets. He was pale and definitely still out. 

Sid stood by Geno and gently stroked his hair before he looked at Sergei, "how is he?"

"They gave him muscle relaxers and tried to set his shoulder but his muscles were still too tight so they started an IV and sedated him it was pretty easy after that. The Doctor said he was showing early signs of shock so they're going to give him some fluids and then they bundled him up in blankets." Sergei shrugged, "they said he's doing better now. They're taking him for another x-ray and then they'll reverse the sedation and we can take him home."

Sid and Kris nodded. Kris watched Sid continued to stroke Geno's hair, "I'm going to give Stewie a call to let him know where things are at with G." 

Sid and Sergei smiled at him. "Thanks Kris. Will you let him know we're going to bring him home when we're done here, just let us know when he's going to want G in tomorrow." Sid requested.

Kris nodded, "you got it."

....

Kris was sitting in the chair next to Geno's bed keeping an eye on him while Sid and Sergei were out talking with the doctor. Kris agreed to stay since they didn't want to risk Geno waking up alone and reacting badly. Kris watched Geno quietly and could tell the sedative was starting to wear off, he just hoped Geno came around easily.

Geno blinked groggily as the sedative wore off. He felt fuzzy and a little cold, even buried under blankets. Geno cleared his throat and moved to sit up but Kris put a firm hand on his chest to keep him still. 

"Take it easy Geno. Just lay back and relax." Kris soothed. "Sergei and Sid are out with the doctor working on your discharge papers and instructions. You got a little shocky before when they sedated you and set your shoulder. So they want to finish up the fluids with the IV and keep you warm with the blankets. They'll be back in soon to check on how you are doing."

Geno nodded his teeth chattering a little. Kris gently touched his forehead, "you feel a little chilled are you cold G?"

Geno nodded and Kris frowned slightly, "I'm going to get you another blanket, just stay right here and I will be right back."

Kris went out to nurses station, "can I get another blanket my friend is still cold."

The nurse smiled and grabbed a warmed blanket, "other than being cold does he seem to be doing well?"

Kris nodded, "he's groggy, but other than being chilled he seems fine."

Kris walked over to Geno and wrapped the warmed blanket around him. Geno smiled, "thank you."

Kris smiled and squeezed Geno's good shoulder, "it's no problem G I've got your back. How are you feeling?"

"Ok, everything fuzzy." Geno mumbled. "I'm want go home, sleep."

Geno leaned into Kris' arm and Kris smiled as he took the hint and ran gentle fingers through Geno's hair, "Sergei and Sid are working on getting you cut lose just hang on a little longer."

Kris sat on the edge of the bed and Geno rested his head on Kris' leg and closed his eyes. Kris smiled, "it's ok just rest. I'll wake you up when they come back."

"Спасибо, Kris. " Geno mumbled as he drifted back off.

"Пожалуйста." Kris murmured. "Спокойной ночи G."

....

Sid and Sergei came back in and smiled seeing Geno asleep head resting on Kris' leg.

Sid softly stroked Geno's cheek, "how's he doing?"

Kris smiled, "he woke up a little bit ago and was still cold. I grabbed him another blanket and then he wanted someone close."

Sid smiled and squeezed Kris' shoulder "he likes and trusts you Kris. Believe me when I say I wouldn't have left him to wake up without either Sergei or I here if that didn't mean something to both of us." Sid rested his forehead against Kris', "thank you for taking care of him when I couldn't."

Kris squeezed Sid's shoulder, "I wasn't kidding when I told you I will always have both of your backs. Thank you for trusting me."

Geno shifted and let out a quiet whimper when he put pressure on his injured shoulder. Kris and Sid reached out to help him get the pressure off his arm. 

"Sid?" Geno mumbled.

"Yeah G I'm right here." Sid answered.

"When we go home?" Geno asked.

As if in answer the doctor and a nurse came in and finished re-evaluating Geno and getting the IV taken out. The doctor looked at Geno, "we're going to send you home. Everything on the x-rays looked good. Your team doctor will be scheduling a follow-up MRI for you in a few days to make sure there's nothing else going on. Keep the immobilizer on until you meet with your team medical staff tomorrow afternoon. For now ice, anti-inflammatories, and we've filled a prescription for some pain killers to get you through the first few days. Does anyone have any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads no as Kris and Sid helped Geno get to his feet. 

"Ok well then he's good to go, if the pain increases or things get worse don't hesitate to come back in or contact your team doctor. Have a good night gentlemen."

Sid and Kris helped Geno out to the car while Sergei stopped at the pharmacy to get Geno's meds. 

Geno gave Kris a one armed hug, "thank you for be with me." 

Kris carefully returned the hug, "it was no problem G. Feel better I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Kris helped Sid get Geno settled in the car before heading out.

Sid went home with Sergei and Geno ready to get some sleep and cuddle with his boyfriend. Geno dozed lightly against Sid in the back of the car content to sleep away the ride.

Geno hated being hurt and not knowing how long he would be out but for the first time in a long time he wasn't worried about finding his place. For the first time in possibly ever he knew he was safe and that his team mates would have his back and that was worth all the risks he took just to get here. He wouldn't trade anything for what he was building with Sid or their team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Спасибо - thank you  
Пожалуйста - you're welcome  
Спокойной ночи - sleep well/good night

**Author's Note:**

> добро пожаловать в команду Женя- welcome to the team Zhenya.  



End file.
